About manuls

The Pallas's cat, Otocolobus manul, is named after Peter Simon Pallas, a German naturalist who described it in 1776 while exploring Siberia. In Russian and in much of the internet it is simply the manul, a name that comes from Mongolian.

Where they live

Manuls live in cold, dry, open country: rocky steppe, grassland and mountain slopes across Mongolia, the Tibetan Plateau, Kazakhstan and southern Siberia. Winters there are long and harsh, and there are few trees to hide in. They spend the day in rock crevices or in burrows that marmots have abandoned.

Why they look like that

Almost everything about a manul's appearance is about cold and cover. Their fur is long and extremely dense, especially on the belly and tail, so they can lie on frozen ground or snow while waiting for prey. Most of their apparent size is fur.

Their ears are small and set low on the sides of a wide, flat head. That lets a manul peer over a rock without showing much of itself. Unlike a house cat, which has slit pupils, a manul has round ones.

They also have short legs and are not fast runners. Instead of chasing, they stalk, freeze and wait, relying on fur that matches the grey and brown of the steppe.

What they eat

Mostly pikas and voles, plus small birds and insects when they can get them. They hunt mainly around dawn and dusk.

Family life

Manuls live alone outside the breeding season. Kittens are born in spring, usually several to a litter, and they grow quickly because they need to be ready before the next winter.

Manuls in zoos

They are famously difficult to keep. Their high, dry home has very few of the infections that are common elsewhere, so they have little natural resistance, and kittens in particular often fall ill. Zoos that breed them successfully are proud of it. The Moscow Zoo even uses a manul as its emblem.

Are they endangered?

Not officially. The IUCN lists the manul as Least Concern, but it is thinly spread and hard to count. Habitat loss, poisoning campaigns against pikas and other rodents, hunting and stray dogs all take their toll, and the species is protected in Russia's Red Book.